You and I are on this road together ... lets say we are going to a retreat for the weekend, some 40 or 50 miles up the road ... we've been there before, so we sort of know the town some ...
we left home late though - weve been on the road for about 100 miles already - we were rather planning to have arrived there by now - its getting late, and now that its winter, its getting a bit dark a bit much earlier - so at this point in our trip, its dark out ...
and, its started to rain too ... badly, in fact ... the rain is coming down very heavily ... there are no stops really, between where we are and the town were the retreat is being held - no gas stations, no motels ...
on the side of the road, there is a homeless man - drenched and cold and rather bedraggled ... he has his shopping cart full of his worldly possessions with him ... his thumb is half heartedly out for a ride - but clearly he expects no one to stop for him, not really ...
we do stop ... we know for a fact that there is some free shelter in the town that we are headed to ...
he says to us that he will not be able to take our offer, if we cant bring his shopping cart full of stuff with us ...
the one of us that is driving, and whose car this is (and I dont know which one of us that is) says that we cant take his stuff ... that person says that the man must leave his stuff behind if he wants the ride, and try to come back for it all later ... the homeless man refuses ... the one of us driving now asks "why not just be grateful for the ride? - we cant take your stuff with us - we have our own luggage in the trunk, and the back seat is not made for carrying such cargo - and we will all three of us get soaked to the skin to try to stop and pack it all in here - its cold and wet and dark - and we just cant do it" ... "do you want a ride or not?" ....
the one of us that is the passenger, is completely unsure of what to do ... that one of us is rather seeing the irony of us going to a retreat to find some clarity around letting go of things, but too, that one of us doesnt want to get into an argument - doesnt want to piss off the driver/friend - doesnt want to get soaked either - but still, asking, "what are we doing here? - why are we in this position at all?" ...
the homeless man refuses our offer still ...
we get into the car then, and get onto our way ... its a very silent 40-50 miles from there to where we are going, except for the few comments that the driver one of us had uttered about "why couldnt he just leave his possessions behind? Im sure no one would have taken them, he could have easily hidden them in the woods, and come back for them later ... it was silly of him to be so afraid to leave behind a cart full of junk and miss the opportunity for shelter - he could have brought just the two or three things with him that he considered essential" ...
the other of us, remained silent for the most part for the rest of the trip ...
so, heres the inquiry:
who was homeless here?
and what exactly is "home"?
we left home late though - weve been on the road for about 100 miles already - we were rather planning to have arrived there by now - its getting late, and now that its winter, its getting a bit dark a bit much earlier - so at this point in our trip, its dark out ...
and, its started to rain too ... badly, in fact ... the rain is coming down very heavily ... there are no stops really, between where we are and the town were the retreat is being held - no gas stations, no motels ...
on the side of the road, there is a homeless man - drenched and cold and rather bedraggled ... he has his shopping cart full of his worldly possessions with him ... his thumb is half heartedly out for a ride - but clearly he expects no one to stop for him, not really ...
we do stop ... we know for a fact that there is some free shelter in the town that we are headed to ...
he says to us that he will not be able to take our offer, if we cant bring his shopping cart full of stuff with us ...
the one of us that is driving, and whose car this is (and I dont know which one of us that is) says that we cant take his stuff ... that person says that the man must leave his stuff behind if he wants the ride, and try to come back for it all later ... the homeless man refuses ... the one of us driving now asks "why not just be grateful for the ride? - we cant take your stuff with us - we have our own luggage in the trunk, and the back seat is not made for carrying such cargo - and we will all three of us get soaked to the skin to try to stop and pack it all in here - its cold and wet and dark - and we just cant do it" ... "do you want a ride or not?" ....
the one of us that is the passenger, is completely unsure of what to do ... that one of us is rather seeing the irony of us going to a retreat to find some clarity around letting go of things, but too, that one of us doesnt want to get into an argument - doesnt want to piss off the driver/friend - doesnt want to get soaked either - but still, asking, "what are we doing here? - why are we in this position at all?" ...
the homeless man refuses our offer still ...
we get into the car then, and get onto our way ... its a very silent 40-50 miles from there to where we are going, except for the few comments that the driver one of us had uttered about "why couldnt he just leave his possessions behind? Im sure no one would have taken them, he could have easily hidden them in the woods, and come back for them later ... it was silly of him to be so afraid to leave behind a cart full of junk and miss the opportunity for shelter - he could have brought just the two or three things with him that he considered essential" ...
the other of us, remained silent for the most part for the rest of the trip ...
so, heres the inquiry:
who was homeless here?
and what exactly is "home"?
No comments:
Post a Comment